Chapter 4

#4. Let's just post it as it is.

"Oppa! Should I do it or not?"

"..."

In the middle of the night, Dal woke up the slumped-over Seol, who looked like he had been working until he dropped.

"Ugh... Oppa, let me sleep a little more..."

"Ah, no. TV. Turn on the TV!"

Dal particularly loved the television, or rather, the people moving inside it.

It wasn't just me who thought that Dal's behavior stemmed from loneliness.

I remembered what Nara had said a long time ago.

- Oppa, should I try a part-time job?

- What kind of part-time job, damn it.

- About Dal. I was thinking of sending her to kindergarten. She must be very lonely...

- Hey, I'm struggling so much right now, and you're asking me to worry about her loneliness?

- Ah... I'm sorry, Oppa.

At the time, even I had some idea of Dal's loneliness, which is why I said that.

Seol, who had been grumbling then, shook his head again, mentally scolding himself.

"I'm wide awake now."

Dal clung to her brother, who had suddenly stood up.

"You're awake, you're awake! Turn on the TV, quickly, quickly!"

"Okay. Go sit down right there."

Seol picked up the remote and pointed at Dal's special cushion, and Dal hurriedly went and sat on it.

"Hehe. Haha..."

Dal was completely focused on the TV as soon as it turned on.

Seol sighed and returned to the room. He planned to sleep a little more and then cook breakfast when the kids woke up.

"Ah."

What if...

Could it be...

‘The work I posted yesterday...’

When would the comments start coming in? Seol got up, careful not to wake Hee-chan, who was sleeping soundly beside him, and opened his laptop to log into the Utopia site.

"Huh?"

It seemed more people had visited than he expected.

105 favorites, and the average views per chapter were over 200.

"The number of favorites and views are similar."

When he used to write web novels, they never rose so steadily. This must be a good sign.

"Bro. What are you doing?"

"!"

Hee-chan, the third child, rubbed his eyes and slowly put on his glasses.

Seol chuckled at the diligent elementary school student.

"Why do you always wake up so early, it's only 6 in the morning."

"…Why are you up, Oppa…?"

Hee-chan, curious and unyielding, asked.

After observing the kids for a week, Seol noticed that Nara and Hee-chan, despite being cautious, had a bold side and would persistently ask questions when they were curious.

‘It seems something runs in our family.’

Seol himself wasn't the type to hold back when he had something to say, and Nara and Hee-chan, though introverted, were bold, while Dal seemed to have a lot of flair and ambition. Seol answered Hee-chan.

"Oppa was up to write."

"Write...?"

Seol nodded.

In his previous life, and now, his writing was everything to him, aside from his family.

"Right. If this goes well, you guys will also benefit. I'll try to balance it with my work."

Hee-chan, who was sitting on the bed, remembered the certificates Oppa had torn up.

There must have been many writing awards.

‘Right. Oppa was a good writer.’

In fact, Hee-chan had secretly read some of Oppa's writings a few times.

Unaware of this, Seol waved his hand at his brother.

"Go back to sleep."

"No. I have something to do."

What could he be doing?

An elementary school student at this hour.

Seol watched as Hee-chan walked to his school bag, unzipped it, and pulled something out. Hee-chan hesitated and then spoke.

"Um... preparing for a competition."

"…What kind of competition?"

Did I hear that right?

Seol, who had somewhat distanced himself from serious studies, found the four words "competition" to be somewhat...

‘...impressive.’

This kid, I knew he was studying hard, but...

Seol quickly ran over and tackled Hee-chan.

"You little brat!!!"

"Ke, Oppa?!"

Seol messed up Hee-chan's hair.

Hee-chan, unaccustomed to such behavior, could only gasp and choke.

This change was good, but it felt awkward. Oppa was still a bit scary.

***

After sending Nara and Hee-chan to school, Seol noticed that the number of favorites for [Dal's Neighborhood Genius Writer] had increased a bit.

Reading through the comments, he felt a bit overwhelmed, as they were similar to what he had expected.

Seol stopped at one comment.

"Oh."

The author also knew this fact.

In any case, with this level of response, most comments praised the work as new and interesting.

‘It’s new, and it’s interesting, so they’ll probably keep reading.’

Of course, how to develop it from here was up to him.

Thinking about the comment, Seol opened his laptop.

"Right. I need to change it."

Dal, who was in front of the TV, was grinning.

Hee-chan, who had been preparing for a competition since the early morning.

Nara, who hadn't even had a proper breakfast while taking care of her siblings.

‘Even though I’m naturally ambitious, I’ll push myself twice or three times as hard.’

In his previous life, he had been able to build something from nothing due to his relentless drive.

He had always wanted to keep climbing, never satisfied.

He felt inferior at the starting line compared to others, and this was a complex for him.

‘But not anymore.’

With things to protect, his ambition doubled.

"Clearly, the work stands out, but..."

Other people, seeing the prize money, had prepared thoroughly for the competition, so their covers were splendid.

In contrast, his cover was just okay.

"I need to do something about it."

He wondered if there was anyone around who could draw well or had a good sense of design.

But he was a dropout, so he didn’t know anyone.

His former friends, who had formed tight-knit groups centered around their own misfortunes, were a bit... no, very delinquent, so he had cut ties with them when he dropped out.

No one to help.

Seol nodded. He would have to do it himself.

"First, I’ll try drawing on paper, and if it’s no good, I’ll have to stock up on backups."

He grabbed a family newsletter that was lying around and started scribbling.

***

A few hours later.

Nara, the first to return home, looked around the quiet house.

"Where did everyone go?"

Contrary to her worry, she didn’t need to search for long.

Nara found Seol and the youngest, Dal, taking a nap in the living room and quietly approached them.

‘Are they sleeping?’

Yes, they were. Seol was lying on the floor, and Dal was clinging to his stomach like a baby panda.

‘Oppa must be suffocating.’

Nara, seeing Dal sleeping on Seol’s stomach, which was already sweating and groaning, gently lifted her.

Dal, about to whine, saw Nara’s face and smiled.

"Hey, Woongni?"

"Shh."

As Dal closed her mouth, Nara, holding Dal’s bottom with one hand, picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the floor and examined it.

"This is..."

What kind of drawing is this?

Or is it writing?

What Nara found was evidence of Seol’s struggle with the cover.

"Dal's Neighborhood Genius Writer...?"

Under the title, a crude drawing was sketched.

"Zolaman... and a circle? What is this? A person on the roof?"

Is he trying to make a book? A paper book, or is it Hee-chan’s homework?

Nara, making various guesses, knelt a little away from Seol.

‘Or did Oppa draw it?’

In any case, a new fact she learned today.

Oppa Seol can’t draw.

"Keke."

Nara couldn’t help but laugh.

She felt a bit closer to him.

"But Dal doesn’t draw like this."

Nara started to add her own drawing over Seol’s.

***

Meanwhile, the web novel team of the publishing company [Utopia] was having a busy time.

It wasn’t visibly busy, but it was a good time to contact authors, so the PDs were actively looking for works.

And.

'This work is good. Hmm, this one too.'

Moon Yubin, one of the PDs of the web novel team, was sending contact messages to a few works.

And one work particularly caught his eye.

While there were works that provided a bit of healing, this author’s work stood out.

Smooth and easy to read, which was the greatest strength of a web novel.

The characters were also vivid, making it easy to get attached.

It was immersive, and you felt like cheering.

‘A newcomer, but to attract this much attention, he’s definitely a promising author.’

Now was the right time to sign him.

If he missed out, he would regret it... no, he would regret it a lot.

‘I’m envious.’

This kind of talent wasn’t something anyone could have.

It seemed like a talent that you couldn’t get even if you wanted to or worked hard for it.

By the way, is the pen name Gweh-dong, or is it the real name?

It felt familiar, so he searched and found out it was the name of a neighborhood at the edge of Seoul.

...Was it intentional?

"Is he really a genius from Dal's neighborhood?"

Moon Yubin PD muttered, feeling like he had discovered something amazing.

Moon Yubin PD, who had quickly read up to Chapter 3, added it to the favorites.

‘It looks like the potential is about to burst... I need to be on edge too.’

If they work together soon, or if they do, he wanted to support this work wholeheartedly.

Actually, he also liked such calm and gentle stories.

‘I was wondering if there were more stories like this, but someone wrote one that fits perfectly, and people are gathering.’

While he didn’t know much about the author Gweh-dong, it was clear that he was a writer who understood the market well.

***

After a nap, something felt different.

Before going to bed, it was clearly in the 50s, but now it had risen to the 30s.

This was a rapid growth that didn’t require much thought.

‘Sure enough! Choosing a different genre was a good idea.’

Seol picked up Dal and spun her around.

Picking up and spinning his siblings, this was addictive. It might become a habit.

"Do you want to go to kindergarten?! We need to buy clothes for Dal if she goes to kindergarten?"

"Kyaa!"

"You have to ride the yellow bus, right?"

Dal, finding the sudden windmill game (?) fun, laughed loudly. After putting Dal down, Seol noticed a note stuck next to his laptop.

"It’s Nara’s handwriting."

The neat and distinctive handwriting was clearly Nara’s.

- Oppa, I made fried rice. Eat it when you wake up. :) Oh, and the doodle... I edited it, is it okay?

"Doodle?"

Seol scratched his head.

"I had doodled before... Ah!"

He had been struggling with the cover drawing, and it didn’t work out, so he had been stockpiling backups and fell asleep with Dal. Nara must have found him sleeping soundly when she came home.

Seol picked up the paper that Nara had pinned with a pen.

"!"

The drawing was unrecognizably different.

Seol, blinking, made a whistling sound.

"…Did Nara draw this?"

What he had wanted to express was a boy on the roof, looking at the moon and writing.

Compared to the earlier mess, a wonderful drawing had been created.

The shading and details were so well done that the drawing seemed to come to life.

‘I need to change the cover right away.’

While it wasn’t clear which high school Nara, a middle school third-year, aimed for, what was urgent right now was Nara, not Hee-chan or Dal.

‘I want to send her to the high school she really wants to go to.’

Seol, recalling this, rested his chin on his hand.

Then, there was only one thing he needed to do.

‘I need to go premium as soon as possible.’

A normal pace of updates wouldn’t be enough.

Of course, an abnormally fast pace of updates was necessary.

‘It won’t take two. I’ll just post it as it is.’

And, Yuseol was determined to do it.

Oh.